It’s well known that residents of Kingston are involved in their community. They tend gardens, pick up trash at parks and even clean the graffiti at the skate park. They pay a property tax to support a port district, and they pay a property tax to support the Village Green. Their community involvement further increased when the county pulled out of its previous duties to maintain parks and ensure trash cans are emptied.

An involved community is something to be proud of, not an excuse for the county to shirk its responsibilities. At this point, volunteers are disposing of waste from the Big Belly trash cans — those solar-powered trash compactors — on their own time, and dumping the trash in a Dumpster paid for by the port.

Those trash compactors, incidentally, have the words “Kitsap County” written on them.

We know times are tough for Kitsap County. But fair is fair. The county will pick up trash at Buck Lake Park, the county will pick up trash in the urban jungle that is Silverdale, but Kingston gets the short end of the stick because it’s got residents who volunteer? What a message to send to other unincorporated communities. That should scare volunteers away. Or encourage incorporation.

Kingston is a gateway to the Olympic Peninsula, an entry point for tens of thousands of visitors a year. It is a social and economic center that generates property and sales tax revenues for the county.

Kingston is also an unincorporated community, meaning it depends on the county for certain services and the county receives the bulk of tax revenue generated in the town to pay for those services.

If the county is not going to do its part regarding parks and trash — specifically, if the county is going to depend on volunteers to empty Kitsap County trash cans — then a commensurate portion of tax revenue should be given back to the community in some way.

So, what to do? Keep up the volunteerism, Kingston. But hold the county accountable for a portion of revenue you pay for the services you now perform.